Against All Odds
by awrestlinggod
Summary: Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley is drowning her sorrows as she considers her decaying marriage when she is approached by a familiar face who appears to have only one thing in mind, a release for his desire for the princess. Is that really the only thing that he has in mind? This is only the first of an increasing number of problems for Stephanie and her marriage.
1. Chapter 1

_This story is a collaborative project written by myself and **dldb**. Please check out her profile and her work at the link on my profile. Please review and most of all enjoy!_

* * *

><p><strong>Nov 2001<strong>

Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley impatiently drummed her fingers on the table as she tried to catch the bartender's attention. It was her second wedding anniversary and here she was, sat alone at the bar when there was only one place where she wanted to be right now and only one person she wanted to be with. She wanted to be at home with her husband. But no, they had to get in a stupid fight a day before their anniversary.

Stephanie rolled her eyes, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to escape. "Scotch on the rocks!" she barked at the bartender as he finally managed his way to her.

He immediately obliged and worked her drink. Her mind went back to her previous thought: what the hell was happening to her marriage? Sure they'd had to jump over a few obstacles for the past few months, with Hunter's injury and rehabilitation and the whole ECW catastrophe but she had no idea how it got this bad. She felt her cell phone vibrate in her jeans pocket and took it out. She immediately answered the call, thinking it was Hunter. "Hunter?!" she exclaimed.

There was a pause at the other end of the line. "No Stephanie." A familiar voice spoke. "Sweetheart, please come home and let's talk about what has happened to our family." Her mother said.

"You know what Mom, quite frankly I do not give a crap anymore. Dad won. End of conversation." She shut her cell phone and picked up the drink that the bartender had finally served. She drank the shot, throwing her head back and letting it burn down her throat and placed the glass back on the table.

"More!" she ordered.

As she kept ordering drinks and the bartender kept supplying, a figure admired her from afar, observing her every move. He didn't know what it was but for the past few months, there was something pulling him to her and he knew it was inevitable. They were inevitable. He didn't care if he knew she was married, he wanted her and damn it, he was going to get her. He took a shot of Jack and contemplated when he was going to go over and join her as she drowned her sorrows. It seemed obvious that was what she was doing. Word around backstage was that she and Hunter weren't getting along so well. He smirked. "Tonight, I'll show you how it feels to be with a real man." He thought.

He finally summoned the courage to stand up and walk over to the beautiful young woman who had been the subject of his attention. "Hey." He said huskily, eyeing her up and down. One of the things he found sexy about was her glorious long legs. He wanted nothing more but to pick her up and have his way with her.

She looked at the man to her right. "Hi." She slurred as she picked up another shot. Just as she was about to drink it, he grabbed her wrist, stopping her action in mid-air.

"Don't you think you've had enough?" he said. _I'd like you to be conscious as I take you to heights of pleasure your husband has never been able to do, _he thought cockily.

Stephanie snorted as she yanked her arm from his grasp, "Who are you? My father?" she ridiculed. "Just leave me be." She murmured and took another swig of Jack. Placing the shot glass down on the counter, she faced him with questions in mind, "Why are you even talking to me? Don't you hate me or something?"

To be honest, she couldn't care less what he or anyone thought of her. All that mattered to her was what _her _husband thought of her.

He sighed, "I don't hate you Steph" he paused, leaning dangerously close as he whispered in her ear, "As a matter of fact, I like you." He continued. Stephanie's eyes widened at his admission and how close he was to her. She slowly turned her head to the right and they were face to face, nose to nose.

His eyes were now dilated and dark with lust. _What the hell is going on? I should step back _she thought but her body was not moving. She could feel his body heat radiating off of him and it was turning her on. _No no, I can't do this_ she thought.

She finally managed to gather up some strength to try and move away. She clumsily stood on her two feet and rummaged through her bag, she pulled out two one hundred dollar bills and threw it on the counter. "Keep the change!"

Stephanie stepped away from the man that just tried to make a move on her, a freaking married woman, she was overwhelmingly confused. She watched as his smile turned into a smirk. A devious smirk she might add.

Thankfully she managed to walk out of the bar gracefully and walked towards the elevator, with the doors opening up immediately. She pressed the button for the 7th floor and leaned against the wall. She thought about the way he stared at her and how she felt. She was a married woman for heaven's sake and here she was, thinking of how he looked at her with so much desire and passion. She was suddenly enlightened. Another man, who has not her husband, was looking at her with lust and at this moment she was actually entertaining it! She shook her head, _I've had too much to drink, and I was seeing things_ she chanted in her head. The elevator finally came to a stop and she stepped out, dragging herself down the hall. Finally, she reached her room and pulled out the key card from the back pocket of her jean skirt when she felt someone standing behind her. Her movements were stilled as her eyes closed, revelling in the moment.

He placed his hands on her waist, grasping it tightly as he pushed himself further into her, letting her feel his arousal.

"Feel that? All because of you." He whispered into her ear. His lips grazed her ear lobes, hearing her faintly moan. _Oh yeah, she wants it too_ he thought.

His lips travelled down the column of her neck, tucking away a strand of her hair as he lightly nipped and sucked on her neck. _My god, she tastes so sweet_ he thought.

He was slightly shocked when she started to grind against his arousal, giving him the signal. He grabbed the key card from her hand and slid it into the slot and pushed the both of them inside the room, kicking the door shut with his feet. Once they were inside, she turned around to face him. She was on fire and he gladly poured gasoline on her.

He stalked towards her direction and stopped in front of her. He slowly placed his hands on her waist and she made no attempt to stop him.

Inside, Stephanie was numbed. She just wanted to forget her all her troubles and his touch seemed to help her forget. His strong hands travelled up her arms, pulling her close to him.

"I've waited so long for you," he whispered. His voice was low and infinitely entrancing. She could smell the liquor in his breath, or maybe it was hers "I want you."

She stared into his eyes and saw nothing but lust. He pressed himself against her and the push of his erection touching her thigh made her moan.

"You want that?" he asked. He moved his hips against her, gently grinding his cock along her thigh.

"Yes," she breathed.

He lifted her up into his arms, an arm under her knees and an arm wrapped around her back and carried her to the bed, placing her down at the centre. He knelt on the bed before her and took his shirt off, she imitated his action and took her shirt off too. He stopped to admire the beauty right in front of him. Without breaking their eye contact, her hands reached around her to pull the clasp of her bra off, freeing her breasts. A smile adorned his face. There was no stopping now they both thought. She took her skirt off as he got rid of his jeans and boxers.

He moved over her, pressing her down into the mattress, pushing her legs apart with his knees. He got a hold of her wrists and held them above her head.

"I'm going to take you slow and deep and hard." he said huskily and lowered his head, grazing her ear.

A ripple of shiver cursed through her body. His cock strained between her legs and he lifted his hips, letting it drag across her moist folds. He immediately captured her lips, kissing her passionately. His lips travelled across her jaw and down her neck. He couldn't wait anymore and drove himself forward, stretching her as he pressed slowly into her until he had buried himself to the hilt. She whimpered and shifted her hips as he stilled his movements. He moaned as he began to move, slow at first but the intensity surely picked up as he moved faster and Stephanie started to match his rhythm, furiously pushing her hips back.

Their naked bodies were pressed fully into each other, their heavy breaths moving their chests up and down together, their lips finding each other. Their moans getting louder each time he hit home...

* * *

><p><strong>Present time – Jan 7 2002<strong>**  
><strong>  
>Her eyes were blurred with tears as she remembered that horrible night. She didn't mean to do it. She really didn't. She just didn't want to feel anything and she thought he'd help with that. But he didn't. He just made things infinitely harder for her which she realised as soon as she saw him in her bed the next morning. She told him that no one could know about this. And he had agreed, but then he kept trying to contact her and whatnot. So she didn't turn up to RAW or SmackDown. She turned to look outside the window so that her husband won't see the tears slide down her face.<p>

She couldn't risk her husband, whom she loves very much, finding out what happened that night. She wiped the tears off her face and composed herself, breathing in and out.

She felt their limo come to a stop and gathered her things. The driver opened her husband's door and he stepped out, taking in the fact that he was back in an arena and not just any arena, this was Madison Square Garden. He turned back to his wife and held his hand out, smiling down at her. The smile that made her insides melt and her knees weak.

"You coming babe?" He grinned.

She smiled back at him, placing her hand in his, "Of course."

He pulled her against his body, pausing at the sight of her, "You look beautiful by the way." Before she could respond, he kissed her passionately and slowly. He slipped his tongue inside her mouth as they battled for dominance. Stephanie's hand slipped into his hair as she tugged his face firmly against hers as they made out. Times like this made her the most special woman on the planet and only her husband could make her feel like this. No one else.

Needing to breathe, he pulled away first, but placed a light kiss on her lips before he did so. They continued to hold hands as they walked through the halls of MSG to their locker room.

Her husband was back indeed. Time to play the game.


	2. Chapter 2

**NOV 2001**

Stephanie awoke facing the windows of the hotel room which was a bad thing as the sunlight which streamed through them was very bright for the time of year and it hurt her eyes. This was nothing compared to the pounding in her head or the overwhelming feeling of sickness. This was without doubt one of the worst hang overs she had ever had, she was certain of this after only experiencing it for thirty seconds. She moaned quietly to herself, "Oh god."

She felt certain that she was going to throw up which left the only decision to make, whether to throw up over the side of the bed onto the floor or try to make it to the bathroom first. It was as she was trying to convince herself to attempt the bathroom run that she heard a distinctly male snoring sound from behind her. She panicked instantly as she realised that someone else was in the bed with her. She knew that it was not her husband, he was home rehabilitating his quadricep injury.

Willing the fog to clear from her mind as she attempted to remember the previous night proved futile which left only one option. She would have to turn around and look at whoever it was that she had apparently slept with. As she lifted herself up by one arm she turned her head as slowly as possible as though the extra second it took her to look at whoever this man was would make him disappear. Predictably this was not the case and eventually she squinted with only her right eye open as this seemed to hurt slightly less and she saw who was next to her. An overwhelming feeling of guilt hit her and for the second time this morning she said quietly, "Oh god."

It took a second or two to generate a further reaction but when it did there was suddenly an urgency. Get to the bathroom and throw up and do it fast. There were now two perfectly good reasons to do so. This was who she had slept with? She got out of the bed as quickly as she could manage and half trotted half wobbled across the hotel room and miraculously made it into the bathroom before she threw up. Most of it even made it into the toilet.

She heaved repeatedly but eventually the ordeal was over. It was tempting just remain where she was, sitting on the floor in the bathroom and not face the man who remained in her bed. Maybe she could grab her things and check out of the hotel and just leave him there? This was another stupid idea, she had barely made it into the bathroom without falling or being sick.

There was no option other than to wake the guy and throw him out of her room and this would mean speaking to him. She felt the urge to throw up again and leaned back over the toilet but although she heaved twice there was nothing else waiting to escape her. Apart from her marriage of course, that was now likely to escape her very quickly if Hunter found out about this.

She had actually cheated on her husband and not only was that bad enough today was their wedding anniversary. She had woken up with another man in her bed on her wedding anniversary and not just any man. She knew that Hunter did not like this guy at the best of times, in fact the feeling was mutual. Was that the reason that this had happened? Had she been used like that? It was possible. She told herself that yes that was definitely what had happened, this wasn't her fault. She had been taken advantage of by this bastard.

Placing her left hand on the white toilet seat she used it to raise herself to her feet which started her head pounding again. She went to the sink and splashed some water on her face in another futile attempt to make herself feel even a tiny amount better. As she looked into the mirror she considered two things. Firstly she looked like crap and secondly all of those people that had chanted slut at her so many times had actually been right.

It was too late to change that now but what she could do was get this guy out of her hotel room. After walking uneasily back into the main body of the hotel room she saw that he was still asleep which was actually surprising considering the amount of noise she had made whilst repeatedly throwing up a couple of minutes earlier.

Stephanie decided that there was no point attempting to be polite and she yelled even though it hurt her head, "Hey! Wake up and get out!" The man began to stir and Stephanie repeated her demand at an equal volume to the first time.

He opened his eyes and looked at her and it was clear that his memory had no problems in returning to him as he smiled in obvious satisfaction, "Good morning."

Stephanie said angrily, "No, bad morning. Get out of my bed and get out of my room."

He sat up in the bed with a slightly confused expression on his face, "You're attitude has changed since last night. Come on, get back into bed and..."

Stephanie did not want to see him and certainly had no intention of speaking with him and the thought of getting back into bed with him made her feel sick again. She screamed as loudly as she could manage, "Out! Now!"

The man had a headache of his own and Stephanie's high pitched screeching was the last thing that he needed. It was fairly obvious to him that Stephanie viewed the previous night as a mistake and she was right, it certainly had been a mistake for her but not for him. Pounding Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley as hard as he could would not be an experience he would forget but the chance to do so had not been the only reason that he had done this. Stephanie was going to regret last night for a long time to come. He said, "Ok just stop yelling for fuck's sake. I'm going."

Stephanie stood with her hands on her hips glaring at him as he put on his pants. He said arrogantly, "You don't have to stand and watch, if you want to go again..."

Stephanie looked appalled, "Just get out. Get out and never come near me again."

He sneered at her, "Now you're breaking my heart."

Again Stephanie's shout drilled into his head, "Out!" He stood and clumsily put on his shoes. Stephanie pointed in the direction of the door as she ordered, "Go." The man picked up a final object from the floor, "Oh I'd better not forget my phone. I'd lose Hunter's number if I forgot that."

He saw a look of shock appear on Stephanie's face as her mouth dropped open slightly before she demanded quietly, "What is that supposed to mean?"

He figured she was too shocked as she made no attempt to resist him as he kissed her softly on the forehead, "It means we'll talk again real soon Stephanie. I'm sure we can figure out a way to avoid Hunter finding out about this."

He walked towards the door and Stephanie said, "Bastard." She noticed that apparently her insult was regarded as some kind of compliment as he half turned with a grin on his face and looked her in the eye and simply said, "Yeah." With that and a quiet click as the door closed he was gone. Stephanie collapsed onto the bed and as tears filled her eyes she asked pitifully, "What have I done?"

* * *

><p><strong>JAN 7 2002<strong>

Hunter walked into his locker room closely followed by his wife. He had worked so hard for this moment. Eight months of rehabilitation had been required to come back from what could have been a career ending injury but now all of the pain and suffering were worth it. He was back. In truth it was a return for both of them, his wife had been dealing with her own problems these past couple of months. Hunter was sure that none if it would have happened if she had not been foolish enough to listen to her brother and that asshole Paul Heyman. Stephanie had actually bought ECW and then tried to take on her dad and the WWF with it and put him out of business. How could anyone be that stupid?

Before his injury and that monumental piece of stupidity things had been fine in their marriage but now that was not the case. He could no longer stand the accumulating arguments between them.

Stephanie had started to turn into one of those attention seeking, nagging wives that everyone dreaded ending up with.

Hunter was in the process of telling himself to get those kind of thoughts out of his head as tonight was going to be a good night when Stephanie said, "I can't wait until we get out there again."

Hunter dropped his bag on the floor and turned to face her before enquiring, "We?"

Stephanie set her own bag down and said, "What do you mean 'we'? Of course we, there are two of us." Hunter said, "There are two of us in here, there won't be two of us out there in the ring." Stephanie's green eyes narrowed slightly at him as she demanded, "What are you saying?"

Hunter's irritation was obvious as he removed his jacket and threw it over the back of a steel chair, "I just said what I'm saying. I don't want you out there with me. Frankly you're a distraction that I don't need." Stephanie stood with her hands on her hips and said angrily, "So that's it then is it? We're not even going to talk about it?"

Hunter began unpacking his bag, stacking his things on the same steel chair that his jacket was hanging on the back of as he said, "I've already made the decision Stephanie..."

Stephanie moved closer to him as she cut him off by yelling, "Oh you've made the decision have you? Well that's..."

It was Hunter's turn to cut in as Stephanie's screeching voice made him instinctively close his eyes. His own voice was raised as he said, "Yes I have made the decision. Given your recent record I'd say leaving you out of decisions was a good idea wouldn't you?"

Stephanie continued to rage, "Really? You're going to bring up ECW again? You're really doing that?" Hunter slammed the last item to be removed from his bag down on the steel chair and yelled, "Just shut up Stephanie! Your voice is fucking grinding me. You're not coming out there with me and that's final. I'm going for some coffee."

Stephanie watched her husband storm out of the locker room and slam the door. She growled in anger and kicked the steel chair over that he had carefully placed his things on which sent them all flying across the locker room. Stephanie stormed out herself and slammed the door just as hard as Hunter had.


End file.
